Proper Rate has named Chris Knapp to lead the company as its new president.

The move is a homecoming of sorts for Knapp, who served in various executive roles for Guaranteed Rate for more than 10 years, until 2019. Proper Rate is a joint venture of Guaranteed Rate and @properties.

Since 2019, Knapp has worked in vice president roles for CrossCountry Mortgage, Draper and Kramer Mortgage Corp. and Wintrust Mortgage. 

Knapp told Chicago Agent that seeing how other firms operate gave him good perspective and, in a perfect world, he can merge his experience with the best of Proper Rate for maximum efficiency and results.

“There’s two sides to it,” Knapp said. “One is, why did I ever leave to begin with? But seeing others in the industry, it helps me see there’s nowhere better than here [Proper Rate]. This is the best platform in the industry.

“Now that I’m back, what I’m excited about is an opportunity to work with a lot of the great folks that I worked with for such a long time at Guaranteed Rate. That’s exciting.” 

Looking at the industry as a whole, Knapp is optimistic about what is coming in the fall and beyond. He said the spring market was full of pre-approved prospective buyers, and he was told during a recent meeting with @properties brokerage managers that inventory is rising to the highest level “in a while.”

The key for Proper Rate, Knapp said, is to remember this is a relationship business. 

“The big priority is to help forge relationships,” he said. “This business involves an emotional transaction for every homebuyer. That will be a big priority, to leverage tech but not forget that it’s an emotional process for everyone involved, Realtor partners, clients, everyone.”